VAR500 Roundup: DynCorp Going Private, CenturyTel Buying Qwest, And More

While Qwest's takeover by CenturyLink made news, other VAR500 companies posted stellar earnings, formed alliances, made top appointments and gathered some very interesting information about how customers perceive the worth of energy conservation.

DynCorp Will Go Private

DynCorp International (2009 VAR500 rank: 63) said it will go private in a $1.5 billion deal with Cerberus Capital Management L.P. Cerberus will pay $17.55 a share in cash for the military contractor. The deal represents a premium of $5.80 a share, or 49 percent, over DynCorp's closing price of $11.75 a share on April 16. Cerberus said it lined up financing from Bank of America, Citigroup, Barclays and Deutsche Bank Securities. According to published reports, DynCorp President and CEO William L. Ballhaus, (left), said the acquisition will allow DynCorp to grow.

CenturyTel To Buy Qwest

CenturyLink will acquire Qwest Communications (2007 VAR500 rank:19) in an all-stock deal worth roughly $10.6 billion. The move would broaden the carriers' geographic reach, while cutting overhead costs. Qwest's recent focuses have included unified communications and cloud-based networking offerings. Earlier in April, Qwest and IBM announced a pair of new network management suites for large enterprises and midmarket customers.



Edward A. Mueller, (left), Qwest chairman and CEO, said Qwest was "pleased" with the progress Qwest has made and that the combined company will be "well positioned to win."

ePlus Creates, And Fills, COO Spot

Mark P. Marron will be ePlus Inc.'s chief operating officer, a newly created position, and president of the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, ePlus Technology (2009 VAR500 rank: 95).



Marron, (left), was senior vice president of sales of ePlus Technology since joining the company in 2005. From 2001 to 2005, Marron was senior vice president of worldwide sales at NetIQ. Prior to joining NetIQ, he was general manager of worldwide channel sales for Computer Associates.



"We are pleased that the Board of Directors appointed Mark as our COO," said Phillip G. Norton, chairman, president and chief executive officer of ePlus in a statement. "While serving as our senior vice president of sales, he has played a critical role in the company's growth and expansion in the market."

HP Services Teams With KPMG

HP Enterprise Services (2009 VAR500 rank: 4) announced an alliance with auditing firm KPMG that is designed to assist clients in transforming their organizations by streamlining business processes, improving regulatory compliance processes and managing risk more effectively, enabling them to manage business uncertainties better while accelerating returns on technology investments.



"Organizations have come to rely on strong partners like HP and KPMG to achieve better technology performance," said Greg Robins, vice president, Global Alliances, HP Enterprise Services. "This alliance allows clients to benefit from a wide range of business transformation services, in many cases at a lower total cost than if they had to engage this kind of support separately."

Wipro IT Services Releases Strong Q4 Results

Wipro IT Services (2009 VAR500 rank: 42) reported strong revenue and solid margins for its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010. Profit was up 21 percent and revenue grew nearly seven percent. All but three (Product Engineering, Retail and Transportation and Japan) of its 17 breakouts posted double-digit growth, most notably in Consulting and Healthcare.



Wipro IT Services is boosting its local staff (non-Indian) in order to better appeal to companies for IT services other than outsourcing, namely end-to-end IT services and solutions, and to also better penetrate the public sector. To this end, Wipro ITS hopes to have half of its headcount be non-Indian locals by 2012.



"We have seen another strong quarter of broad based, volume led growth. We saw good recovery in our challenged verticals of Technology and Telecom," said Chairman Azim Premji, (left), in a statement. "The business environment is returning to normal."

Accenture Study Finds Consumers Want Discounts For Energy Conservation

A new study by Accenture (2009 VAR500 rank: 3) finds that utility companies may have a bit of a fight in store if they plan to remotely limit the usage of customers' home appliances.

Not surprisingly, the report also found that almost half of consumers would be deterred from joining electricity management programs if their electricity bills were to increase as a result.

"Understanding Consumer Preferences in Energy Efficiency," based on a global survey of more than 9,000 consumers in 17 countries, discovered that while some consumers are open to the idea of moving to electricity management plans -- under which suppliers can actively help households use energy more efficiently through the remote limiting of when home appliances are used -- they demand very large price discounts in return.



"In the new energy era, residential consumers who allow major household appliances to run at off-peak times will potentially receive a financial benefit," said Greg Guthridge, managing director of Accenture's Utility Customer Care Practice. "However, utilities must address consumer concerns about external control, privacy and lifestyle implications before broad-based adoption by consumers will occur."